Angas
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,067
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Post by Angas on Aug 8, 2017 22:00:48 GMT
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Post by tauntongas on Aug 8, 2017 22:31:06 GMT
+ How will it be financed? + What features are going to be included to maximise the off-pitch earning potential for the club? + It would seem silly for a club of our size not to explore rail seating (aka Safe Standing) + We need to think long and creatively about car parking and accessiblity + Keep the gates + Provide quality facilities and vantage points for disabled supporters + While we commence the exploration of re-developing the Mem, we should get the local business and homeowners involved from the start. From the very beginning, we need them to re-iterate their concerns, to allow us the largest amount of time and creative scope to answer them comprehensively. ...some thoughts I have, FWIW. I'm sure someone could save everyone a lot of time by posting a few Mem Redevelopment threads from ~10 years ago. That would bring everyone on the forum and on the board right back up to speed, very quickly
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Post by swissgas on Aug 9, 2017 1:43:37 GMT
After listening to the interview I am totally disillusioned because Wael was talking in complete riddles.
He has to do better than this if he is going to convince anyone that he is serious.
The explanation about the breakdown of negotiations with UWE was masked in the same type fog we became used to with Nick Higgs.
And I'm sure the residents of Horfield will be pleased to hear they should be grateful because a redeveloped stadium will increase the value of their homes.
But the start of the interview was astounding. Wael said "Dwane Sports has invested money into the club it is not a loan it’s an investment into BRFC it is just an inter company transaction which is registered as a loan between the two companies there is no third party involved." How can it not be a loan when he says it is registered as a loan and it is shown in the audited accounts as a revolving credit facility ? Geoff Twentyman will have to pull him up on this and ask him :
a) Why was it invested as a loan which weakens the balance sheet rather than equity which strengthens the balance sheet and which would make the club more attractive to the outside investors who will be needed to finance the stadium redevelopment ?
b) Are Dwane Sports charging the club interest on the loan ? If they are, and this is an inter company transaction, what sense is there in the holding company charging it's loss making subsidiary company interest ? Is there any benefit to Rovers in having interest payments leave our bank account and be transferred to a bank in Jersey ?
c) Do Dwane Sports expect the loan to be repaid by Rovers ?
d) Wael said "There is a charge on the Mem and we did that as a sensible move to protect our investments because in the world of business you never know what could turn up". Would he like to tell us what he thinks could turn up and does whatever might turn up include someone else trying to register a charge over the Mem to secure monies they are owed by Bristol Rovers or Dwane Sports ?
Geoff may also like to ask Wael which planning permission he is waiting to go through before work can start on the training ground because, as far as I know, no new planning application has been submitted by Dwane Sports or Bristol Rovers for the Colony site.
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Post by gasheadpirate on Aug 9, 2017 5:35:08 GMT
Very disappointing interview. The Mem site is not the right olace for a 20k+ stadium due to its location, lack of transport links and bring a residential area. It won't get much more than the 16knthe previous plans were granted. This in turn will mean it will be difficult to maintain premier league status, if that really is the long term aim. Our expectations are being lowered in more ways than one.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2017 7:04:02 GMT
Incredible interview and it is now clear that a) we are resigned to a rotting Mem for another decade, and b) WAQ does not have any sense of real direction, not so long ago he was saying that the Mem site is not fit for purpose to take the club forward, and now it's the only deal on the table, I don't recall the man saying that Dwayne Sports have explored every inch of land in the region that may be suitable.
Not only is the honeymoon period over but the future now looks uncertain under a leader who has changed his mind too many times in a short space of time, something tells me the family want out now.
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Post by a more piratey game on Aug 9, 2017 7:50:20 GMT
He didn't help himself by saying that it's not a loan, it's an investment registered as a loan, I thought. But in DS shoes I would probably have chosen to invest via a loan
I thought he seemed angry about people saying the Mem couldn't work, which surprised me
He ducked the training ground question at the end, and instead pointed to all the other good stuff his team have done. Almost as someone who no longer had such explicit support from his funders might
Fair play to Kb for asking all the right questions, even if he didn't push back on any of the answers
Still a lot of the WAQ charm, but not his usual assured self I thought
What will UWE do now? Maybe they are so factionalised they are impossible to negotiate with?
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Post by a more piratey game on Aug 9, 2017 7:51:16 GMT
PS. I wonder where Chris Brown, and maybe others, got that leak
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strung out
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Paul Hardyman
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Post by strung out on Aug 9, 2017 7:51:46 GMT
Very disappointing interview. The Mem site is not the right olace for a 20k+ stadium due to its location, lack of transport links and bring a residential area. It won't get much more than the 16knthe previous plans were granted. This in turn will mean it will be difficult to maintain premier league status, if that really is the long term aim. Our expectations are being lowered in more ways than one. Residential areas are the best places for stadiums. Football clubs should be in the heart of their communities wherever possible.
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Post by PessimistGas on Aug 9, 2017 7:57:13 GMT
An interview that leaves more questions than answers, sadly.
We were very close to deal and, indeed, thought they had a deal but they set an arbitrary cut off date and now the project is dead with zero hope of revival. Sorry - bulls***.
He didn't really answer questions over finance as he wasn't really pushed on it.
Basically confirmed the rumours that some creditors haven't been paid but suggested there was a reason for this. Can only think the creditors must be previous board members whose money was payable on certain conditions - the UWE going ahead or not?
There appears to be no clear plan, some vague platitudes about improving facilities at the Mem and increasing the value of local residents homes (wtf?)and building the training ground. I would actually be amazed now if we see a training ground at all.
All very lacklustre with no clear vision, I am definitely of the opinion that they probably want out now.
Still, best leave the happy clappers to it.
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faggotygas
Byron Anthony
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Post by faggotygas on Aug 9, 2017 8:04:49 GMT
Very disappointing interview. The Mem site is not the right olace for a 20k+ stadium due to its location, lack of transport links and bring a residential area. It won't get much more than the 16knthe previous plans were granted. This in turn will mean it will be difficult to maintain premier league status, if that really is the long term aim. Our expectations are being lowered in more ways than one.
Visiting the Valley on Saturday gave me some hope in this respect. The area of the Valley (excluding its car park) is almost identical to the area of the Mem site (including car park). The Mem site is in some ways better, as is basically square, while the Valley has some wasted angles. You would, however, somehow have to drag the building North a bit - away from Alton Road and Strathmore road, and do a lot of digging in the car park.
Direct access is not a problem, as very few would actually be parking at the ground, as now. Direct access at the Valley is similar to the Mem - residential streets.
The big thing that the Valley has, of course, is a train station round the corner. Apart from cost, supporter transport has to be our main issue. Perhaps we could sort something out with the new park and rides being built around Bristol - Lyde Green, the Portway, and, especially, Stapleton/Stoke Lane. Also, Parkway station.
Oh, and the Ashton Gate site is only very slightly bigger, and ignoring their out buildings and most of their car park, is the same. Easier though, as it's flat.
Just some thoughts, and, of course, cost is the biggy.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2017 8:08:02 GMT
Knock down B&Q and build Muller Road train station. It'll serve The Mem and the County Ground.
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Peter Parker
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Richard Walker
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Post by Peter Parker on Aug 9, 2017 8:12:35 GMT
He didn't help himself by saying that it's not a loan, it's an investment registered as a loan, I thought. But in DS shoes I would probably have chosen to invest via a loan I thought he seemed angry about people saying the Mem couldn't work, which surprised me He ducked the training ground question at the end, and instead pointed to all the other good stuff his team have done. Almost as someone who no longer had such explicit support from his funders might Fair play to Kb for asking all the right questions, even if he didn't push back on any of the answers Still a lot of the WAQ charm, but not his usual assured self I thought What will UWE do now? Maybe they are so factionalised they are impossible to negotiate with? Course they would use a loan, just like many other past directors have done and been re-paid (with or without interest).This one happens to have been secured against The Mem though. It's hardly anything new or different.
Keith asked the questions, but it is all 'stage managed' in a way. After all he is a club employee so it won't ever be a hard pressing interview. That is for the local media to do and pick up on. Will be interesting what 20man picks up with on Saturday.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2017 8:16:21 GMT
I have never believed in him ( but hoped that I was wrong) but this interview was quite sad he seems way out of his depth. I agree with him about one thing,it is success on the pitch that is the most important thing,people will watch winning teams from any old shack. I didn't like the bit about people not being paid for a reason. Sadly I don't believe that the funds will be available to upgrade the Mem (again I hope to be proved wrong).
I await 'Blue Iris' ( the biggest wind up merchant on here) to make a post saying "this is a fantastic interview aimed at UWE,it will make them think that Rovers are skint and they will feel sorry for us and lower their price" or some other bullsh1t.
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eppinggas
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Ian Alexander
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Post by eppinggas on Aug 9, 2017 8:41:12 GMT
OK - Wael is kind of on a hiding to nothing as us internet warriors will take apart in detail everything he says and will ask yet more questions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I suggest Swiss Gas / Cast In Stone etc ask these questions to Wael A-Q and Steve Hamer directly and see if they can get a response. They are very reasonable questions and I'm not sure 20man has the Paxman-like interrogation ability. If Dwayne Sports have loaned money to BRFC - then that has to be repaid (interest bearing or not). That is what a loan is. Which does then beg the question... a few years down the line and the Club is still losing (finger in the air time) approx. £1mil a year - will Dwayne Sports call in their loan? They might do. If the UWE deal cannot be resurrected and it is pretty obvious that there is now bad blood between the UWE and Dwayne Sports - why the f*ck can't we know exactly what the "commercial terms" are that could not be agreed? Wael is hiding behind the Nick Higgs "we have to respect confidentiality" line. F*ck that - how about respecting the fans? Do UWE deserve respect? I'm pretty sure the fans do. One of the commercial terms in dispute is obviously the leasehold vs freehold issue. This to me is pretty fundamental and if that couldn't be agreed VERY early on - then why have we waited 18 months for the bad news? Let's just say my 100% support for the Al-Qadi family has left the building. The UWE was the acid test. The Al-Qadi family are left wide open to the accusation that they have not put a penny of out-side investment into BRFC. When BRFC are £11m in debt to Dwayne Sports and the Mem is worth £11mil - guess what happens next? We were lied to / mis-led about "Plan B" being another new site and an apology from Steve Hamer / Wael Al-Qadi would be appropriate.
I guess that we have no option other to support the A-Q family and hope they can turn this 'business' around. That will take investment and right now - I can't see where that is coming from. Wael - show me the money. Show me the money.
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Post by PessimistGas on Aug 9, 2017 8:55:37 GMT
OK - Wael is kind of on a hiding to nothing as us internet warriors will take apart in detail everything he says and will ask yet more questions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I suggest Swiss Gas / Cast In Stone etc ask these questions to Wael A-Q and Steve Hamer directly and see if they can get a response. They are very reasonable questions and I'm not sure 20man has the Paxman-like interrogation ability. If Dwayne Sports have loaned money to BRFC - then that has to be repaid (interest bearing or not). That is what a loan is. Which does then beg the question... a few years down the line and the Club is still losing (finger in the air time) approx. £1mil a year - will Dwayne Sports call in their loan? They might do. If the UWE deal cannot be resurrected and it is pretty obvious that there is now bad blood between the UWE and Dwayne Sports - why the f*ck can't we know exactly what the "commercial terms" are that could not be agreed? Wael is hiding behind the Nick Higgs "we have to respect confidentiality" line. F*ck that - how about respecting the fans? Do UWE deserve respect? I'm pretty sure the fans do. One of the commercial terms in dispute is obviously the leasehold vs freehold issue. This to me is pretty fundamental and if that couldn't be agreed VERY early on - then why have we waited 18 months for the bad news? Let's just say my 100% support for the Al-Qadi family has left the building. The UWE was the acid test. The Al-Qadi family are left wide open to the accusation that they have not put a penny of out-side investment into BRFC. When BRFC are £11m in debt to Dwayne Sports and the Mem is worth £11mil - guess what happens next? We were lied to / mis-led about "Plan B" being another new site and an apology from Steve Hamer / Wael Al-Qadi would be appropriate. I guess that we have no option other to support the A-Q family and hope they can turn this 'business' around. That will take investment and right now - I can't see where that is coming from. Wael - show me the money. Show me the money. The thing is, I just do not see how coming back full circle to a unviable plan could possibly have a chance of giving the AQ's any sort of return on their investment. This is still going to require tens of millions of capital investment and probably years of legal wrangling. I just see it.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2017 9:01:39 GMT
I have never believed in him ( but hoped that I was wrong) but this interview was quite sad he seems way out of his depth. I agree with him about one thing,it is success on the pitch that is the most important thing,people will watch winning teams from any old shack. I didn't like the bit about people not being paid for a reason. Sadly I don't believe that the funds will be available to upgrade the Mem (again I hope to be proved wrong). I await 'Blue Iris' ( the biggest wind up merchant on here) to make a post saying "this is a fantastic interview aimed at UWE,it will make them think that Rovers are skint and they will feel sorry for us and lower their price" or some other bullsh1t. This is a fantastic interview and although i now realise the uwe project is dead i feel confident wael will deliver a revamped 15k capacity mem. All the people who have turned on the owners havnt really addressed the simple fact that the uwe stadium project is not suitable for brfc and with that in mind they cant possibly proceed with it.
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Post by Henbury Gas on Aug 9, 2017 9:05:51 GMT
PS. I wonder where Chris Brown, and maybe others, got that leak The Uwe ??
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eppinggas
Administrator
Ian Alexander
Don't care
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Post by eppinggas on Aug 9, 2017 9:21:06 GMT
OK - Wael is kind of on a hiding to nothing as us internet warriors will take apart in detail everything he says and will ask yet more questions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I suggest Swiss Gas / Cast In Stone etc ask these questions to Wael A-Q and Steve Hamer directly and see if they can get a response. They are very reasonable questions and I'm not sure 20man has the Paxman-like interrogation ability. If Dwayne Sports have loaned money to BRFC - then that has to be repaid (interest bearing or not). That is what a loan is. Which does then beg the question... a few years down the line and the Club is still losing (finger in the air time) approx. £1mil a year - will Dwayne Sports call in their loan? They might do. If the UWE deal cannot be resurrected and it is pretty obvious that there is now bad blood between the UWE and Dwayne Sports - why the f*ck can't we know exactly what the "commercial terms" are that could not be agreed? Wael is hiding behind the Nick Higgs "we have to respect confidentiality" line. F*ck that - how about respecting the fans? Do UWE deserve respect? I'm pretty sure the fans do. One of the commercial terms in dispute is obviously the leasehold vs freehold issue. This to me is pretty fundamental and if that couldn't be agreed VERY early on - then why have we waited 18 months for the bad news? Let's just say my 100% support for the Al-Qadi family has left the building. The UWE was the acid test. The Al-Qadi family are left wide open to the accusation that they have not put a penny of out-side investment into BRFC. When BRFC are £11m in debt to Dwayne Sports and the Mem is worth £11mil - guess what happens next? We were lied to / mis-led about "Plan B" being another new site and an apology from Steve Hamer / Wael Al-Qadi would be appropriate. I guess that we have no option other to support the A-Q family and hope they can turn this 'business' around. That will take investment and right now - I can't see where that is coming from. Wael - show me the money. Show me the money. The thing is, I just do not see how coming back full circle to a unviable plan could possibly have a chance of giving the AQ's any sort of return on their investment. This is still going to require tens of millions of capital investment and probably years of legal wrangling. I just see it. We agree. I presume you meant to say "I just don't see it" :-)
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eppinggas
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Ian Alexander
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Post by eppinggas on Aug 9, 2017 9:22:41 GMT
PS. I wonder where Chris Brown, and maybe others, got that leak The Uwe ?? It has been suggested that previous Directors of the Club stand to lose out if the UWE does not go ahead and that they are the leak. Given the circumstances - even I can't blame them.
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Peter Parker
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Post by Peter Parker on Aug 9, 2017 9:34:39 GMT
It has been suggested that previous Directors of the Club stand to lose out if the UWE does not go ahead and that they are the leak. Given the circumstances - even I can't blame them. well at the end of the day, they have sold/given away their stake in the club.
Maybe they will lose out if UWE isn't built, but that begs a different question, are they more interested in recouping their money or UWE being built for the benefit of the club?
If NH and Boycie (if rumours are to be believed) are calling in loans (or trying to) are they better or worse than DS for securing their monies against The Mem.
people can't have it all ways, criticising the current owners for protecting their money, but not criticising the previous owners for wanting their loans back?
As said previous, I think any director who has left has been repaid (not sure of any interest) and I don't particularly have a problem with that. It does appear though Nick Higgs will have lost/written off a significant chunk though with some of the loans converted to equity (unless a deal was struck we don't know about during the takeover)
Why are DS/The Al-Qadi's suddenly being portrayed as conmen/shysters by some who haven't put a real penny in to the club when others in the past have been repaid as is their right?
Questions need to be asked about how we go forward. Questions also need to be asked of UWE who are getting an easy ride in all this and what else were they going to say other than "Not us Guv"
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